Genevieve Josephine Ites Dearing

Genevieve Josephine (Ites) Dearing, 97, Buffalo Center, passed away Wednesday, March 1, 2017 quietly at Timely Mission Nursing Home, Buffalo Center. A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 6, at United Methodist Church, Buffalo Center, with Pastor Debra Devine officiating. Burial will be in Graceland Cemetery, Buffalo Center. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until service time at the church on Monday. Please send all memorials to the Buffalo Center United Methodist Church or the Buffalo Center Senior Citizens Center.
Genevieve Ites was born Feb. 17, 1920, on a farm west of Buffalo Center in Kossuth County to Ralph and Minnie (Greenfield) Ites. She attended Buffalo Center High School and graduated in 1937. After graduation, she taught rural county school near Woden, at Bingham Township No. 4, for three years.
On May 16, 1942, Gen married Marvin Dearing. Together they lived and farmed between Rake and Buffalo Center. She was the stereotypical farm wife who always had the meals and lunch ready. Gen was out working right along with Marvin whether it was field work or livestock.
Gen often would help out financially by working the seasonal corn pack at Green Giant in Blue Earth and working at times at Deluxe, a filter factory in Lake Mills. In 1981, Gen and Marvin moved off the farm to a house in Buffalo Center.
Since 1943, Gen has been a member of Buffalo Center United Methodist Church, serving in different positions. In 1981, Gen and Marvin purchased a building downtown Buffalo Center with the purpose of renovating it for a Senior Citizen Center. It was sold to the city a few years later. Gen was the president of the Center from 1981-2012, at which time she entered the nursing home.
Gen and Marvin were never able to have children of their own. However, her sister Joy, was 12 years younger and had a family of five. Gen always considered Joy and her children as her own. During the summer, with Joy working at Deluxe in Lake Mills, they would take the kids, Harlan, Dennis, Larry, Jeanie and Mark, out of the “city” to the farm. Mark, the youngest, moved in with Gen and Marvin through his middle and high school years when Joy died. Gen was called “grandma”, by Joy’s grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Her memory is cherished by “her children”: Dennis (Sandy) Aukes, Onalaska, Wis.; Larry (Debra) Aukes, Buffalo Center; Jeanie (Brad) Grotewold, Lake Mills; Mark Aukes, Forest City; Harlan’s surviving wife, Sarah Aukes, Buffalo Center; all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, that gave her such joy and many extended family members.
Preceding her in death was her husband, Marvin; parents, Ralph and Minnie Ites; brother, Leon Ites and his wife, Virginia; sister, Inez Joy Aukes and her husband, Merle; nephews: Roy Aukes (infant), Harlan Aukes, and William Ites; and niece, McKayla Aukes (nine years old).

Lake Mills Graphic

204 N. Mill Street
Lake Mills, IA 50450

Office Number: (641) 592-4222
Fax Number: (641) 592-6397

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